Episodes

Vengeance has arrived home. While the crew is dealing with the fallout of Fido’s defection, Corval is tasked with discovering the fate of a lost flight-training squadron on the surface of the planet he had hoped to never visit again: Earth.

Producer’s Comments:It has been a long and sometimes difficult journey, but Chapter 11 is finally complete! Substantial work went into the soundscapes for this extended episode, so grab some headphones and kick back.

Vengeance meets up with its sister ship, the Furious, in an effort to get one another back in shape for the final leg of the journey home. The joining of the two massive ships is not without danger, however, as the crew of the Vengeance is about to discover…

[LOG ENTRY] : “That’s it. Soon as we get back home I’m putting in for a transfer. Better yet, maybe I’ll just walk altogether. The other night the captain called the squadron together to meet with him during chow. He told us it would be a good chance to get to know the newbies we brought in to take the gun seats, but when he finally decided to actually show up, he hardly seemed interested in them at all! In fact he started in with some cockamamie garbage with that flathead he’s keeping with him! He actually believes it’s given him super powers or something! What the hell am I supposed to do with that? The skinnies were stunned to silence, and I’m pretty sure Trip was just about ready to call med bay by the time Corval pissed me off enough to actually give him what he wanted. That’s something I never want to have to deal with again. I respected that man. I considered him a friend. For him to put me in that kind of position is unforgivable. I’d go put a bolt through that flathead’s eye if I thought it would put things straight again, but everybody upstairs is going completely ga-ga over the sucker, so fat chance of that. Furious undoubtedly has some slots; maybe I’ll see if they could use a stick jockey that knows whose side she’s on.”- Galos, Kyrie / Cmdr / Wing Three, Nova Squadron, Vengeance

Producer’s Comments:Welcome, to Timothy Pinkham, our fantastic composer! Tim’s music really adds a whole new layer to the show. It doesn’t just “spice it up”; it kicks it in the tail, and into high-gear!

Vengeance meets up with its sister ship, the Furious, in an effort to get one another back in shape for the final leg of the journey home. The joining of the two massive ships is not without danger, however, as the crew of the Vengeance is about to discover…

[LOG ENTRY] : “That’s it. Soon as we get back home I’m putting in for a transfer. Better yet, maybe I’ll just walk altogether. The other night the captain called the squadron together to meet with him during chow. He told us it would be a good chance to get to know the newbies we brought in to take the gun seats, but when he finally decided to actually show up, he hardly seemed interested in them at all! In fact he started in with some cockamamie garbage with that flathead he’s keeping with him! He actually believes it’s given him super powers or something! What the hell am I supposed to do with that? The skinnies were stunned to silence, and I’m pretty sure Trip was just about ready to call med bay by the time Corval pissed me off enough to actually give him what he wanted. That’s something I never want to have to deal with again. I respected that man. I considered him a friend. For him to put me in that kind of position is unforgivable. I’d go put a bolt through that flathead’s eye if I thought it would put things straight again, but everybody upstairs is going completely ga-ga over the sucker, so fat chance of that. Furious undoubtedly has some slots; maybe I’ll see if they could use a stick jockey that knows whose side she’s on.”- Galos, Kyrie / Cmdr / Wing Three, Nova Squadron, Vengeance

Producer’s Comments:I had a hard time NOT constantly going back in and nit-picking myself to death over little incidental effects. Part 1 features the new CotG theme, and some completely custom music by yours truly! :) It required 22 channels and nearly 200 discrete sound clips to complete, including voices.

New background music makes this show one of the most engaging, exciting episodes yet! Grab your headphones and crank up the bass boost. Some popcorn might be a good idea too, because this chapter ended up being much longer than usual!

[LOG ENTRY] :“Just call me ‘Freak Show Corval’. It still boggles my mind how it’s even possible, but thanks to Fido’s limited understanding of the nuances of our language, I’ve somehow ended up being taken under his wing while he guides me through some kind of rehabilitation procedure that his people use with those among them who have been injured and unable to feed. He seems to think that if he’s able to connect with me enough to feed, then there must be more to us humans than the Tarthet believe. I think he’s right. Through the link he’s been able to create between us, he’s unlocked something in me that could very well be laying dormant in many of us! For example, I spent an entire nightwatch moving a mug around a table without actually touching it! I’ve done it so much that it’s almost second nature now, and yet I still find it impossible to believe. Frighteningly, that’s just one of the things I’ve been learning about! How am I ever going to get anybody else to understand this? Skipper and Marshall are understandably miffed about it, but my team is another matter entirely. Hell, I’m not so sure I understand how this came about myself, how can I be expected to explain to them how inevitable this outcome apparently is? Fido says it’s what I call “the luck”, doc says its probably genetic, and everybody else makes tracks in the opposite direction. If any of them knew how far this is likely to go, I think I’d have to start watching my back. I’m concerned that the situation is about to get out of control very quickly if I don’t do something drastic to compensate. My friends don’t know about any of this yet, but I think I’m going to have to open up to them if I expect us to be able to continue on as a team. Hopefully I don’t end up shooting myself in the foot…”

- Corval, Kevin / Cpt MPlt / Wing Cmd, Vengeance

Fun Facts: This is the longest episode yet, thanks to a scene that was added just prior to giving the greenlight to the voice talent. The episode length is usually determined by the number of pages in the script, but there were so many sound effects and additional material that the extra time was unavoidable.
Over 200 sound clips were used in this chapter, not including voices, voice effects and music.

The new cast additions are proving to be worth their weight in gold, but what about the regulars? Well don’t get all uptight and worried, because the whole gang will be back again in Chapter 9!

Fun Facts: Fido’s new computerized voice was much easier to deal with this time around, largely thanks to the particular voice I chose to use. It seemed to be well suited for the halting, simple speech needed for the part. Remember that everything you hear is from a particular character’s perspective. If Corval is in the scene, it’ll be from his perspective alone that you’ll (usually) experience the story. This aspect will be accentuated, starting with this chapter.

Captain Corval struggles with exhaustion and his own prejudice to find a common ground with the Tarthet prisoner.

New castmember Steve Riekeberg takes the reigns and the bull by the horns as he assumes the character of Captain Michael Hutsford. Salty veteran Jeff Schultz slides over and gives life to Chief Engineer Warren Gregory!

Fun Facts: Fido’s computerized voice presented a challenge, as the software used to create the voice was unable to produce the halting simple-talk of the alien. Creating the voice required manual editing of the sound to provide the proper gaps. More on how the voice was created will be presented in the second episode of the BackStage Pass Show.

The crew of the Vengeance realize they may have gotten more than they bargained for, as they attempt to establish communication with the captured Tarthet pilot.

[LOG ENTRY] : “What a day! The Boss sent a commendation for me up to the Old Man for the cockpit shielding system! Not that I’m not appreciative or anything, but I hope he realizes that I was motivated to keep my butt in one piece a heck of a lot more than protecting everybody else. Ha! All kidding aside, I hope he doesn’t start dishing out commendations every time I’m involved with some new system for the Decis. It’s a little embarrassing, because I’m just the guy with an idea. It’s not like I singlehandedly make these things work. For what it’s worth, I’d like to offer up my own commendations to Vengeance’s entire engineering staff. Without their help we’d probably be a couple more pilots short after today. So we captured one of the Flathead fighters during the fight. I’m seriously interested in getting a look inside that ship, but the thing’s off limits and locked down until we get back home. If we only had the contact team aboard… Well, I guess there’s no point in wishing for the impossible. Maybe I’ll have better luck schmoozing with the techs that’ll be working on it at Farside. There’s that one little hottie on the drive tech team; maybe I could get her number and we can talk specs…“

Corval escapes certain death to lead Nova Squadron against a Tarthet strike force.

[LOG ENTRY]:“Maybe I’m not seeing the bigger picture here, but what the hell was Kevin thinking? Did he honestly expect that I’d just leave Redline to drift off after she got hit? Screw that! We’ve already sent one of ours on his last flight, and I’ll be damned if I let another one go down! Okay, so I’m attracted to her. So what? I’d bet next week’s chow ration he feels the same way. That still doesn’t have any influence over my refusal to let another member of Nova die, and as the squadron’s second, I would argue that’s my job. Maybe Corval thinks my motivation for breaking formation was primarily selfish, but he’s wrong, and at the end of the day, he’s going to have to admit that it’s probable she wouldn’t be around to give me grief over it too if I hadn’t.”

[LOG ENTRY] : “I wish the old man had warned me about the new wing commander. Corval seems to be about as cocky as they come, but it’s a just a tad embarrassing for me to completely forget that on this boat he answers to me, not the other way around. Maybe it had something to do with the way he carries himself. He’s definitely got the scruff for squadron leader, but there’s something more in him that just seems right for his primarily role. He’s got that balance that we watch for in a good officer; the ability to put the boot where it\’s needed most, and the easygoing approachability that tempers the hardass image that’s somehow become traditional to his post. It’s obvious his core squadron sees him as more than just a CO, and the rest of the pilots are falling in line behind him as easily as we could have hoped for. The phrase ‘getting his ducks in a row’ comes to mind, and it’s about as apt a metaphor as any. This officer’s personal issues aside, Corval and his team are definitely what we needed to fill the slot, and with some luck (and a bit more restraint on my part), perhaps I’ll come to see him as more than just another member of the crew as well.”

Nova Squadron struggles with the Tarthet and the loss of one of its own.

[ LOG ENTRY ] :“Finally got to meet my new wing commander in person, earlier today. I think I made the right choice bringing his squadron aboard, even though their arrival ruffled some feathers, particularly with Ender squad. Corval’s record suggests he and his people will make excellent examples for Ender and their commander to follow, and if the imposing man I met today is even half of what his jacket makes him out to be, I’m sure to be seeing some drastic changes for the better very soon. Another one of captain Fordham’s legacies finally put to rest, hopefully. He seems like a man who’s seen his share of action already, though he wasn’t enlisted during the Water War. I wonder what kind of story is behind that scar on his face?
On a more personal note, he just about scared the daylights out of me when the subject of religion briefly came up. I thought for sure I’d somehow been tricked into bringing one of those New Agers on-board! I’ll run this boat into the sun before I accept one of those nutcases into my crew, but thankfully it turns out to be a case of a very open-minded mentality on his part. Though even that aspect of him could be a source of concern, his squad’s performance during the recent engagement has given me some hope that maybe this command won’t be quite the chore I had originally thought it would be.”

Corval is sent out on patrol with his squadron while Vengeance makes repairs to get back underway, but the arrival of unwelcome visitors throws a wrench into the works.

[LOG ENTRY] :“The day we got our deployment orders was the very day we cleared Haven aboard our new post, the UDF Vengeance. In all the confusion there wasn’t any time to meet our new CO. I took a few minutes to go over the published portions of his record, and I thought I had a good bead on the man after that. Boy was I wrong. He’s certainly a lot younger than I expected, but he could easily be one of the Regen trial subjects, too. They don’t publicize names in that program yet, so I guess I’ll find out when I find out. Hutsford seems to have his head in the right place, even if the voice coming out of it sounds nothing like what his stat pic suggests. Heh.”

Join the fight for survival! Captain Kevin Corval, master pilot of the Unified Defense Forces and Nova Squadron commander, takes you through Earth’s history to his present time, nearly 500 years in our future.

[LOG ENTRY]:“Our first major action deployment, and here I am stuck with a bunch of scared skinnies in the officer’s mess. A fine start to my shiny new command post, I must say. I have to be honest though, we got suckered so thoroughly we might as well have been sitting around with our [censored] in our hands! The Tarthet aren’t anywhere near the stupid creatures Command told us they were. They saw us coming and apparently knew exactly what to expect when we got there. Or maybe… Maybe we haven’t advanced quite as far as we’d hoped.”

- Corval, Kevin / Cpt MPlt / Wing Cmd, Vengeance

Producer’s Comments:This introductory chapter isn’t representative of how the rest of the story is presented. Initially created strictly as a technical exercise to determine if the project was even feasible, it is a straight narrative, intended to get the listener caught up to the opening of Book 2, “Earthlings No More”.